Women left out of TV deal as new road course revealed

Date: November 15 2012

Samantha Lane

RESPONDING to disgruntled sprint specialists, Cycling Australia has approved a new course for the national championships in Ballarat.

The time-trial course will also be closed to traffic next year after Jack Bobridge's frighteningly close shave with a truck this year, but the improvements have not extended to the broadcast arrangements - the women's road race will again miss out on the live television coverage SBS gives their male counterparts.

"I hope that some time soon we can have our race on TV," said Amanda Spratt, road race champion and GreenEDGE rider, on Wednesday.

"Everyone I've spoken to this year has said how exciting the women's road race was at the Olympics in London and I've had many, many people tell me it was much more exciting than the men's.

"I think what people don't realise is that lots of our races are like that. The problem is it's not televised so people can't see it. If people can see us racing that's going to be a big step in moving our sport forward."

In the revised road race course, the women will race two long laps of a flatter 27.7 kilometre circuit before racing five laps of the 10.2km circuit featuring the arduous climb of Mount Buninyong. The total distance will be 107km. When Spratt won last year the women raced 10 laps of the Mount Buninyong circuit, which made for a 102km exercise.

The men's road race will be considerably longer - just shy of 200km - next year, up from 163km this year - bringing it in line with national championship distances in other countries. The men will ride three of the big circuits and climb Mount Buninyong 11 times.

"I don't really think it's going to make the race that much easier," said GreenEDGE's Matt Goss, who was second in last year's national road championship.

"Sometimes you can have the hardest course in the world, and people are scared of the course so they race it negatively, so the race will end up being easier. Sometimes you have a flat circuit but it's raced so hard that it ends up being harder.

"I think it is nice to have change because it keeps everyone coming back. If someone knows they can't get to the finish they're just not going to turn up.''